Did George Russell lose pole position in the Formula 1 race in Qatar due to a dangerous maneuver by Max Verstappen? The Mercedes driver almost collided with the world champion on his second warm-up lap before the final Q3 attempt and had to avoid the Red Bull in the fast right-hand bends in the last sector.
“That was super dangerous from Verstappen,” complained Russell, who ran into Verstappen and almost hit him in the rear, on the radio. An evasive maneuver prevented an accident, but Russell went hard over the curb.
He fears that the subfloor could have been damaged: “It felt like the subfloor was scraping over the curb and through the gravel bed,” says Russell. “I hope he wasn’t damaged in the process, but maybe that’s why we haven’t improved.”
Because after the first attempt, the Mercedes driver was still on pole course and 0.045 seconds ahead of Verstappen, but while he was unable to improve, Verstappen gained a tenth of a second and grabbed first place by 0.055 seconds.
“It was definitely hairy,” Russell says angrily. “I went through the gravel trap four corners before I started my lap. That wasn’t a good start.”
The commissioners opened an investigation against Verstappen after qualifying. Accusation: driving unnecessarily slowly.
Verstappen: Russell was just excited
Verstappen claims he had two cars in front of him and was trying to make sure he had enough distance before his flying lap: “There were two cars in front of me that were also opening a gap, so I had to keep a gap too. I knew that everyone was on a slow lap, not a push lap,” he says.
“And then I think George was excited. He wanted to overtake and pass. That’s fine, I mean, of course everyone tries to find their position to have the best possible start to the lap.”
For Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko, the matter was not entirely transparent. “Everyone tried to get the optimal warm-up phase for themselves,” he describes the situation from his perspective on Sky.
“Max was informed about the situation and it wasn’t entirely clear to Russell: Is he on a fast lap or is he just on a faster warm-up lap? That’s how I saw it,” says the Austrian. In fact, like Verstappen, Russell was on a second warm-up lap.
The Brit defends himself: “I followed my delta and didn’t want to be punished because we were told to follow the delta.”
Russell still happy: fourth row in a row
In the end, Russell missed out on a possible second pole in a row. Nevertheless, the Brit is happy with second place because it is his fourth start from the front row in a row. “We wouldn’t have dreamed of this a few races ago,” he emphasizes. “Right now we’re in a real groove, it feels really great.”
“The first lap was one of the best I’ve ever driven. But for some reason I couldn’t find the extra bit of time and Max overtook me. But we look at it positively: the car was great over the last two weekends, and we’ll enjoy it as long as we can.”
Russell finished third in the sprint on Saturday, but without the team tactics at McLaren it could possibly have been an even better result. He hopes that this will be made up for on Sunday. “Hopefully we can have a real race instead of this team order stuff,” he says.
“It’s going to be a good race and I think we’re all putting our all into it. And it’s great that Max is there too. I was really surprised at how they’ve improved because they were way off the pace yesterday and this morning But now they have both in Q3 and I think we’re in for a good race.”
Source: www.sport.de
